Combat Tested [VR]

My first ten minutes with Combat Tested were spent launching a table into a cluster of guards, watching them ragdoll across the room, and immediately wishing every VR action game trusted its own physics sandbox this much. The core loop is simple: you are a test subject with an escape plan and a growing set of psychic and melee tools, working through the underground research facility that created you. What hooks you is how those tools actually behave in your hands inside a headset. The ability set is compact but purposeful. Telekinesis lets you grab objects and enemies and hurl them with motion-controlled throws. Stasis freezes targets mid-air, opening up combo opportunities if you read the room fast enough. Teleportation handles movement, keeping comfort reasonable for those who get queasy with free locomotion. On top of that sit three super abilities gated behind Infusion (I.F.) containers scattered across the lab - a light resource loop that pushes you to explore rather than sprint straight through. Then there are the twin infused swords: they materialize and dematerialize on demand, can be thrown across a room to bisect an enemy, and recalled straight back to your grip. It is the most satisfying individual mechanic in the game, and on its own it justifies turning the headset on. Here is where the mixed review score makes sense, though. The content volume is short. Players have reported getting through the available levels in a single sitting, and the environmental variety - all underground lab corridors - does not hide that this is a modestly scoped indie release from 2018. Enemy variety is also limited, and some guards are immune to psychic abilities, which keeps sword play relevant but can feel like a blunt design lever. Early player feedback flagged the sound design as particularly weak, with impacts and sword strikes landing with almost no audio feedback. The developer did push a post-launch update that significantly improved the sound work, and those later-purchase reviews are noticeably warmer on how the combat feels as a result - telekinesis throws and sword slices gained enough weight to make the carnage feel earned. Graphics are functional rather than impressive. Nobody is loading this up for visual fidelity. What Buckethead Entertainment got right is the physicality: picking up a heavy object, feeling the motion-controller weight simulation, and sending it spinning into a group of targets is genuinely fun in a way that flatscreen games rarely replicate. If you have played Boneworks or BONELAB and you are specifically chasing that "everything is a weapon" VR sandbox feeling, Combat Tested scratches a specific itch despite sitting a few rungs below those productions in polish and length. Think of it as a proof-of-concept that runs out of content before it overstays its welcome, rather than a full campaign. Bottom line: it is a rough-edged, short VR action game from a small studio, with one genuinely great mechanic at its centre. For VR newcomers wanting to feel like a psychic action hero, it delivers that moment quickly. For players expecting a full structured game with replayability, the cracks show just as fast.

Alex · Scout Team

Catch-all

Be the first to comment on Combat Tested [VR].